Dental vibrator



J. P. KIRWAN El AL.

DENTAL VIBRATOR Dec. 27, 1938.

Filed May 25, 1956' ATTOR NEY Patented Dec. 27, 1938 UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE DENTAL VIBRATOR John P. Kirwan and Bernard Jackson, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Application May 25,

Claims.

The invention relates to dental vibrators and an object of the invention is to provide an instrument which can be used by the public at 7 large for treating their teeth and gums and par- 5 ticularly to an instrument having a vibrated tool which can be app-lied on the teeth and gums to clean and polish the teeth and to clean and massage the gums, and which permits also of the application of any desired powder, paste or other medicament.

A further object is-to provide an instrument having the tooi thereof mounted so that it can be vibrated laterally to provide a very desirable brushing action on the tooth or gum and which is also arranged so that the operator when desired can easily and quickly set the tool to cause an end movement thereof which is of particular benefit where it is desired to clean the space between adjacent teeth.

A further object is to construct the instrument in a simple inexpensive and durable manner and such that the internal parts are readily accessible for inspection, repair or other purposes.

With the above more important objects in view the invention consists essentially in the arrangement and construction of parts hereinafter described, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which:-

Fig. 1 is a side view of the instrument.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view through the front end of the instrument, certain parts being shown in side elevation.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view through the rear end of the instrument, certain parts being shown in side elevation.

Fig. 4. is a vertical cross sectional view at 44 Fig. 2'.

Fig. 5 isa verticalcross sectional view at 5-5 Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the carrier and associated' parts;

Fig. 7 is a side view of the carrier and associated parts.

Fig. 8' is an enlarged longitudinal sectional vie-w through the cap.

Fig. 9 is a plan view of the cap and cup.

Fig. 101's a perspective view of the front end of the shank. I

Fig. 1 1 is a front view of a further type of tool which may be used.

Fig. 12 is a side view of the tool shown in Fig. 11. i

In the drawing like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

1936, Serial No. 81,577

The outer casing I of the instrument is made from an' insulating material such as Bakelite and has one end terminating in a tapered nose 2 and the" other end provided with an internal seat 3 and carrying a cap plate 4 releasably secured to the said end by screws 5.

,Thecasing contains a solenoid which is used to vibrate the tool later referred to. The solenoid embodies the agitator rod or core 6 slidably mounted in the tube 1 and the coil 8 wound around the tube and suitably insulated by inner and outer layers of insulating material 9 and I0 such as sheet mica. An applied outer wrapping H holds the insulating material firmly in place.

It will be observed that the front end of the tube carries an out turned flange i2 which supports a short sleeve l3 and that the rear end of the tube has a number of insulating washers l4 forcibly applied thereon. The coil and the insulatingmaterial containing the same are positioned between the flange and the washers, and the whole arrangement is such that the solenoid can be readily-slid into place within the casing, through the rear end of the casing upon the cap plate being removed.

The ends of the coil are electrically connected to'a pair of'binding posts l5 carried by a disc it of insulating material, which latter is adapted to engage theseat 3 hereinbefore mentioned. It will be here observed that the applied plate holds the disc firmlyin place. The posts are extended through the disc toprovide a pair of terminals or pins H and I8 and these appear through the open centre of the cap plate.

A plug 20 of insulating material is supplied and the plug is' provided with a pair of sockets. 2| and 22 adapted to slidably receive the pins. Lead Wires 23' and 24 are connected to the sockets and can be connected to a suitable source of alternating current supply. Obviously one can readily disconnect the plug by pulling it outwardly to clear the socket from the pins.

Therear end of the tube has a relatively short iron plu'g25 frictionally held therein.

The front end of the rod 6 protrudes into the sleeve t3 and has a disc 26 permanently secured thereto and a coiled spring 21 is mounted on the rod between the latter disc and the flange I2.

The front end of the sleeve is pressed inwardly at the sides to provide spaced vertical side walls 28' and 29*which support a cross pin 30. On the pin wemount'pivotally the rear end of a carrier 3| which is substantially of channel iron cross section, and has its forward end slidably entering the opening 32 provided in the nose 2.

The front end of the carrier is supplied with a cross pin 33 which pivotally supports a bar 34 and the bar has its rear end pivotally connected at 35 to a link 36 the rear end of which latter is connected pivotally by a pin 31 to the forward end of the rod 6.

The pin 31 has the ends thereof projected and received slidably in a relatively short slot 38 provided in each side wing of the carrier. A pin 33 or finger extends from the front end of the bar 34 and protrudes forwardly through the open centre of the nose.

A shank 4B of hard rubber having a semispherical rear end is detachably connected to the forward end of the finger and the end 4| of the shank seats against the front end of the nose. The spring 2'! normally holds the pin 3'! in the forward ends of the slots 38 and the pivot joint at 35 is accordingly normally buckled upwardly as shown.

An enclosing shield 42 of tensioned resilient material such as soft rubber is secured to the shank as by cementing and the rear end of the shield is expanded over the nose as shown, the nose being ribbed at 6' to effectively hold the shield against slipping. The purpose of the shield is to prevent moisture of any kind from working back into the interior of the casing and possibly damaging the contained parts and to act also as a means for stabilizing the vibratory movement of the shank.

When the coil is energized, by connecting the lead wires to a suitable source of current, the rod 6 is vibrated violently in the well known manner and this movement is converted by the connections provided into a lateral back and forth swinging movement of the shank.

The shank is utilized to carry tools of various types, for operating on the teeth and gums and it is desirable that the arrangement be such that the various tools can be easily and quickly attached to the shank and also held in either of two selected positions on the shank. To this end we have tapered the front end 40 of the shank and have provided a tapered cup to frictionally engage the same, and have circumferentially slotted the shank at 44 to receive the inturned tip 45 of a spring arm 46 formed by slotting the body of the cap. The slot passes one quarter way around the shank and has its ends terminating in depressions or pockets 4'! and 48 adapted to receive the tip 45 of the spring arm.

The tool 49 used is attached to the cap so that when the tip of the arm is in say the depression 4?, the tool is in a plane at right angles to the plane in which the shank swings and when the spring arm tip is in the depression 48 the tool is in the latter plane. Accordingly the operator of the instrument can by turning the applied cap, cause the tool to vibrate laterally on the tooth on value when working between adjacent teeth as it presents a fin which readily enters the space between teeth.

We propose providing caps with tools of various types attached thereto and one can select the particular tool he desires for the work tobe done.

While we have entered into a detailed description of the various parts it is to be distinctly understood that they may be materially modified without departing from'the spirit of the invention as set forth in the accompanying claims.

What we claim as our invention is:-

1. In combination, a casing, a solenoid contained within the casing and embodying a core adapted to be vibrated endwise upon the solenoid being energized, a pivotally mounted shank contained within the casing and having one end thereof projecting beyond one end of the casing and adapted for tool carrying purposes, connections between the shank and the core effecting the rapid oscillation of the shank in the vibratory movement of the core and a tensioned resilient moistureproof shield extending between the body of the shank and the body of the casing and secured firmly to said body and shank.

2. In a dental vibrator, the combination with a casing having an end opening therein and a laterally vibrated shank projecting from the opening, of a tensioned resilient liquid proof shield enveloping the opening and firmly attached to the casing and the shank and serving to prevent liquid and foreign material penetrating into the easing at the shank and acting to stabilize the vibratory movement of the shank.

3. In a dental vibrator, in combination, a casing containing an operating mechanism, a shank projecting'from the casing and laterally vibrated by said mechanism, a tool carried by the forward end of the shank and rotatable thereon to selected working positions and a resilient tensioned liquid proof shield firmly secured to the shank and casing and acting to exclude liquid and foreign material from the interior of the casing and to stabilize the vibratory movement of the shank.

4. A dental vibrator having a pivotally mounted shank which will be vibrated in a single plane, a tool extending laterally from the shank and vibrated by the shank with the longitudinal axis of the tool being in said plane, a turnable mounting for the tool on'the shank and rotatable on the shank and about the longitudinal axis of said shank so that said tool axis may be changed to an angular position relative to the single plane and to its former position, and means for vibrating the shank.

5. A dental vibrator having a pivotally mounted shank adapted to be vibrated in a single plane, a cap detachably and turnably mounted to selected positions on the free end of the shank and rotatable about the, longitudinal axis of said shank, a combined massaging and hammering dental tool projecting laterally from the cap and vibrated by the shank with the longitudinal axis of the tool being in said plane to provide a hammering action, rotation of the cap causing the tool axis to be moved from the plane of the shank to a position which is at substantially a right angle to the plane in which the shank is vibrated and to its former position to produce a massaging action.

JOHN P. ICIRWAN. BERNARD JACKSON. 

